In Situ: Photo stories on migration

14 June 2021

A collaboration between two very different Cologne cultural institutions is bearing fruit: a cooperation between the Museum Ludwig and DOMiD has made it possible to realize an exhibition on migration in the Rhineland that focuses on rarely shown perspectives. The exhibition "Vor Ort - Fotogeschichten zur Migration" brings together professional photographs from the collection of Museum Ludwig and many private photographs from DOMiD's holdings. Even before DOMiD opens the "House of Immigration Society" in a few years in
Cologne-Kalk in a few years, the photographs from the DOMiD collection, among others, will be used to convey the realities of life for many immigrants to a broad public.
In the exhibition curated by Ela Kaçel and Barbara Engelbach, "Vor Ort:
Photographic Stories of Migration," professional photographs of housing developments are juxtaposed with private photographs of immigrants between 1955 and 1989. In this way, it becomes clear to what extent migrant workers located themselves in urban life and enlivened city life. With the help of the photographs and supplementary interviews, it is conveyed how streets, houses, stores, pubs and parks become bearers of memory and part of the city's history. This makes it possible to recognize the collective memory of a post-migrant society and to record its urban histories.
Robert Fuchs, Managing Director of DOMiD, explains: "Many of these photographs would no longer be preserved today or would be difficult to access had it not been for the fact that thirty years ago people with migration histories built up our collection, in which the very personal perspectives of immigrants are reflected. We are all the more pleased that through the cooperation with the Museum Ludwig, these stories of migration are receiving the attention they deserve."